Entrepreneur magazine, September 2019

He’s thinking back to 2013. He was 25 and had already banked dual degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, as well as a master’s in atmospheric science from top-tier UW–Madison. Then he’d created a hyperlocal weather observation company called Understory and landed it in the first-ever cohort of an accelerator in his hometown of Madison, which in turn sent him off on nearly a year’s worth of pitching to Wisconsin-based investors. But nobody put in money.

Was his company the problem … or was it the stock of local investors? He decided it was the latter, and moved to Boston — where his fortunes changed. A local hardware venture firm called Bolt invested first. San Francisco’s True Ventures went on to lead a $1.9 million seed round. Understory was on its way.